Project Summary ? Biostatistics Core The UAB NORC Biostatistics Core (BC) fulfills the need among nutrition and obesity researchers for guidance in developing study designs, consultation for statistical analysis, education on statistical methods, and the development of new statistical methods to answer the unique questions posed by NORC investigators. The BC has emerged as a leader in statistics and research rigor, both within and beyond UAB, and provides NORC members with new approaches to enhance experimental design, analysis, and reporting. The BC coordinates statistical activities in the NORC, including interfacing with research cores on the UAB campus and participating in teaching and training activities of NORC members. The BC provides our investigators and the scientific community at large with the expertise to ensure that compliance with NIH policies in grant and manuscript submissions related to study design, data handling, and analysis are followed. Our sustained working relationships with investigators across UAB and more broadly provide timely access for planning, conducting, and analyzing obesity and nutrition research. The BC has a broad expertise for users including survival models, meta-research methods, design and analysis of typical and atypical clinical trials, cluster analysis, typical and advanced causal inference analysis of epidemiologic data, and methods in measurement error. The BC, in collaboration with the NORC Enrichment Program, is internationally recognized for teaching and sharing resources through NIH-funded short courses, seminars, and tutorials. The need for and utility of the BC is exemplified by the productivity over our last funding cycle, during which the BC supported 47 projects (81% which were federally funded), 33 NORC members, and 21 affiliated or mentored members. In doing so, we contributed to the publication of 144 papers, including contributions to statistical methods in nutrition and obesity research. The aims of the BC for the next funding cycle are to continue fostering excellence in study design and analysis for grant applications and publications, particularly in ways that promote the utmost integrity and rigor in statistical analysis and reporting. We will also continue our activities in teaching about statistical methods, as well as further developing new methods for NORC investigators.